More than five years after the victim of a brutal kidnapping was rescued by police on St. Thomas, two men are standing trial for their alleged roles in that incident. Jury selection in the case of People of the Virgin Islands v. Troy Harrigan and Desie C. Henry was completed on Monday, with testimony starting later that day.
Harrigan and Henry are accused of abducting Percival Pringle on Sept. 13, 2020, and over the course of several hours beating and torturing him while in captivity. Prosecutors said the pair did so in an attempt to force Pringle to disclose the location where he held $800,000 in his possession.
Documents filed in Superior Court described how the victim broke away from his captors and tried to escape. Police arrived on the scene and rescued Pringle. Harrigan was taken into custody on Sept. 15, 2020. Local and federal authorities joined forces to arrest Henry the following day.
The top charge was kidnapping in order to extract money.
Lawyers for the Justice Department presented evidence and testimony on Monday. Defense attorney Robert Leycock — representing Harrigan — told the court he had a witness to present, but by Tuesday afternoon, that witness failed to appear.
Superior Court Judge Denise Francois addressed the legal teams before calling the jury back from a lunch break. “What I would do is have the jurors come in and have Attorney Leycock say whether he has a witness or doesn’t have a witness, and then I’ll let the jurors go home for the day,” Francois said.
The judge also issued a partial ruling on a series of motions challenging the validity of charges against the defendants. Six charges were dropped; the remainder would remain, she said, because “I find evidence that the jury could find proof beyond a reasonable doubt.”
A written opinion would follow the verbal pronouncements made from the bench on Tuesday, Francois said. Lawyers were then told what to expect when court reconvenes on Wednesday.
A draft of the final jury instructions would be completed by the end of the day.
Legal teams were ordered to appear at 9 a.m. for a charging conference; jurors would arrive for duty at 10 a.m. Closing arguments were likely to be heard Wednesday.
If convicted on the kidnapping charge, Harrigan and Henry face a maximum penalty of life in prison.
